Anticipating my Thirteenth Child
Monday, May 25, 2009 at 09:32PM 
Patricia Wrede's Thirteenth Child (Scholastic, 2009) has been on my to-read list since early spring, when I first heard it described as Little House on the Prairie meets Harry Potter. Since then, I've heard it described as a lot of other, more problematic things, primarily due to Wrede's decision to eliminate Native Americans from the North American ("Columbian") continent: there are mammoths and other megafauna instead. [Pause.] A copy is waiting for me on the hold shelf at the library; I'm anxious to read it, if not for the same reasons I had been, and judge for myself.
Reviews by Jo Walton at Tor.com (many comments), Charlotte's Library (I heard it here first), and A Fuse #8 Production (Review of the Day).
Have you read it yet? If not, does this controversy make it more or less likely that you will?
Reader Comments (6)
Probably more likely, though I love Pat Wrede and would read any of her books. I am less likely to read it right away, though, as my students tend to put things down if they don't grab them right away.
Me, too. I've never read any Pat Wrede, but have heard good things about her other books (and even about this one); what do you recommend?
As a fan of Dealing with Dragons and some of Wrede's earlier fantasy, I looked forward to this book a great deal--I bought and read it the day it came out. It's not especially fast-paced, but it's a nice start to an alternative world. I didn't catch the Native American thing when I reviewed the book; then I read some other reviews and went, "Oops." I suspect I was distracted by a couple of key African-American characters, or rather Aphrikan-Columbian characters. I really do like the premise, and I got caught up in Eff's journey, her struggles and experiences. As for the Native Americans, I think they could have been worked in without too much trouble. I'm guessing Wrede had no idea she'd create such a controversy with that choice! So the book isn't perfect, but I still recommend it. I'm pretty sold on the idea of fresh fantasy--especially rural fantasy, which is how I categorize Thirteenth Child.
I wonder if I would have caught it myself, Kate. I'm just a couple of chapters in and enjoying the book so far, while feeling faintly guilty about it, too. I do like the the frontier "Columbian" setting a lot, and keep hoping that perhaps there will be Native Columbians on the other side of the Mammoth River or mountain range. I love your category of "rural fantasy" -- are there any other books in that category you would recommend?
The book came through once, but I didn't get to it, and now I'm on the wait list for it again. I'll withhold final judgement until I read it, but I don't think Wrede would have been able to win either way-- if she included Native Americans, they wouldn't have been depicted accurately, and of course removing them completely is another big mess. Like others before, my first thought when I heard about the controversy was the wish that the setting were another planet.
I'm a die-hard Wrede fan - I've read everything! The Lyra fantasies, regency fantasies, even all her Liavek short stories, fairy tale retelling, and Star Wars adaptations. As it's a fantasy, not historical fiction, I don't have a problem with the way she played with history - I feel that it's a "what if" situation. What if x was different in history, what would have happened? Kind of like Jo Walton's Farthing, where Nazi Germany wins WW2. It is a bit more slow-paced, so fantasy readers looking for lots of action may not enjoy it.